Explore Our Historic Houses

Crane House And Historic YWCABuilt: 1796

Built by local businessman Israel Crane, the house was his family's home for over 100 years. In 1920, African American women in the community purchased the home as headquarters for a YWCA, a segregated space. By 1965, the YWCA desperately needed a new building. Local preservationists moved the house to its present location and turned it into a historic house museum. Today, we tell the stories of the three generations of Cranes, the people (both enslaved and immigrants) who worked for them, the women and girls of the YWCA, and the early preservationists who fought to save this piece of Montclair's history.

Nathaniel Crane HouseBuilt: 1818

The first floor of the Nathaniel Crane House features a collection of antique general store merchandise and equipment, including wares, sales counters, gates, and post office pigeon holes. Mrs. Roy Tomlinson, who donated the property on which the house is now located, gave her collection to the Montclair Historical Society in 1967. The second floor of the Nathaniel Crane is a replica 19th century schoolroom with a collection of period artifacts.

Clark House And LibraryBuilt: 1894

The Clark House is home to our administrative offices and the the Albert P. Terhune Library, which houses an extensive collection of books, maps, directories, exhibit panels, and other ephemera primarily from northern New Jersey dating from the last three centuries.

Charles Shultz House (Evergreens)Built: 1896

This intact collection of all the contents of the house reflect a family’s life from the time the house was built in the last decade of the 19th century until it was donated to the Montclair Historical Society in the last decade of the 20th century. The collection includes oil paintings from the late 1800s, including an original George Inness painting; an extensive collection of scientific equipment, including microscopes and plates; a vast collection of rock specimens; and furniture and decorative arts collected by the Shultz family in the United States and on their world travels.